Electric Agora (archive)

Tag: 2020 US Presidential Election

  • Evolution, belief, and manipulation: A discussion with Hugo Mercier

    by Robert Gressis ____ In this dialogue, Hugo Mercier (French National Center for Scientific Research, Not Born Yesterday) and I discuss how human belief and manipulation work, and Hugo’s research about why people aren’t as manipulable as we sometimes think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcMWlU6jzA&list=PLFBaXJ7yNOYERObvjSkJfoDOgtMWVhWse&index=2&ab_channel=ElectricAgora 01:24​ Hugo’s thesis: When it comes to communication, people are not easily manipulated, but…

  • Talking and Not Talking in the Age of Social Media

    by Kevin Currie-Knight ___ Not everything you want to say is worth saying, especially to large audiences. To see this, imagine that the year is 1982. A football assistant coach doesn’t know it yet, but he will be fired from his job for making ill-advised political comments. After the team’s recent game, this fictitious coach…

  • Deplorable reasoning: Prepare for the apocalypse!

    by E. John Winner ___ Let’s begin with a prediction (likely, but not the only option so, given the unpredictably of the Reality TV President in the White House as I write): On January 20, 2021, two inaugurations for the Presidency will take place. One will happen in Washington, the legally determined official inauguration of…

  • On Not Voting

    Kevin Currie-Knight and I debate the issues raised in his recent essay.

  • On Not Voting for the Lesser of Two Evils

    by Kevin Currie-Knight I became eligible to vote when I turned 18, in 1995. I first cast a vote for President in 1996 (I can say with some shame that I voted for Ross Perot, a misguided protest vote). I’ve voted in every Presidential — and most other — election(s) ever since…. except this one.…